anthropology-discourse-analysis-paper

In this assignment, you are to choose a reading and apply it to a recording of talk in interaction. The point is to try out and thereby test the theoretical and/or methodological approach presented in the readings to real discourse, with dual purpose: to learn more about the conversation and to learn more about the interpretive method. You should submit a single Word or PDF file containing two documents: your paper and the marked-up transcript of the excerpt you analyze. Begin with a cover sheet that clearly states the main point of your paper, and also includes your bibliography. Your paper begins on page 2. The maximum length for papers is three pages typed, double-spaced, not including cover sheet, notes, charts, or appendices. Your paper should include one to three brief excerpts from the transcript and provide a detailed analysis of each excerpt. Your written assignment should have all the organizational and presentational characteristics of an academic paper. For example,  The assignment is structured to demonstrate one main point that is clearly stated at the beginning and at the end, and that provides a focus for your argument throughout.  Make clear throughout the paper how each statement you make contributes to the main point.  State why the main point is important and/or interesting. What is the relation to what others have written / found? In particular, how does it relate to the reading in question?  Illustrate your analysis by reference to short examples from your conversational excerpt. Be sure to cite lines of the transcript to support your points. Set off examples by extra spaces and use line numbers to help the reader. To get everything into three pages, here is a suggested way to use the space:  Half-page intro paragraph previewing the analysis  Half page to explain where the transcripts come from  One and a half pages in which you present transcripts and analysis  Half page conclusion explaining how your analysis is a good illustration of the theory or method you chose There’s a particular style of presenting and analyzing transcripts that is specific to discourse analysis. Here are some guidelines:  Introduce example lines by (a) explaining what is happening in the conversation at the point at which these lines appear, and (b) stating beforehand what the example lines are meant to illustrate.  Put the lines (with line numbers) to which you are referring in the text of your paper where they are discussed. Do not make your reader search for them in the attached transcript. A reader should find all necessary material at the point at which it is needed rather than having to flip back and forth between documents.  As a general rule, most excerpts will be 2–5 lines long, with an occasional excerpt of up to 10 lines or so. It is almost never necessary to exceed this length. If you would like to use a longer excerpt, it is almost always better to break it into smaller excerpts and discuss each separately.  By underlining or using arrows in the left margin, highlight the example line(s) that are significant to your discussion.  Conclude presentation of each example by restating what it is meant to show. Do not leave the example lines themselves as the last word in a paragraph or section of the paper. After your paper, attach the transcript of all conversational excerpts analyzed in your assignment. Indicate every instance of the phenomenon under analysis in your transcript, but select only a few instances for discussion in your paper. If it is useful to write or draw on the transcript to illustrate your point, do so—for example, by using different colors to highlight phenomena (repetition, constructed dialogue, adjacency pairs, etc.). Be sure to summarize in your written assignment what you have done on the transcript and what it shows.

Textbook: Ahearn, Laura. 2017. Living language: An introduction to linguistic anthropology, second edition. Wiley

Recording for Analysis: The trailer for the Netflix show Dating Around: https://twitter.com/netflix/status/1096487593661714432